Midair

This game is really fun. Easy to learn, difficult to master. Plays like a sport and never gets boring. People are playing again. Come play!

Official Discord: https://discord.gg/playmidair
Pickup Game Discord: https://discord.gg/JMdSySB

This game is a mix of the of the original Starsiege:Tribes (T1) and the following games in the Tribes Univers. This version appears to be the perfect blend of old and new. Midair could very well be THE new generation of competitive tournament play that takes the world by storm.

(:

This game is fun! It has a large learning curve and the skill-cap is immensely high, so there is always a ton of room to improve if you are willing to put in the effort. If you are a fan of the Tribes series, you will feel at home while playing this. It is also free-to-play, so trying it out to see if it's your type of game will not harm your wallet. Playing free will have you unlock the various armors, weapons, etc. as you play, or you can buy the DLC and unlock everything automatically. There are also transactions in game for player and weapon skins, voices, and stuff like that. Sadly, the game lacks a playerbase. With only a handful of people regularly playing, no one new wants to play.

If you are a fan of the Tribes series and aren't turned off by a small playerbase, I'd give this game a shot. It will take people that are willing to play despite a small player-base and a large learning curve for this game to grow.

I AM A TRIBES PLAYER, AND I KNOW THIS GAME HAS SOME ISSUES IN COMPARISON TO IT

I have been surprised that I have found myself launching this game every other day to play a bit in it.

Finding a new Tribes game is like trying to chase your first high. You won't find it again outside of your first Tribes game. This gives me a little hit. Not enough to satisfy me, in fact it makes me more hungry. But it gives me a little hope for the future. I won't go on and on about the issues I find with the game. There are more than enough reviews about those. I am able to look beyond and adapt a bit in order to get a little bit of that Tribes feeling back. I will take a bad Tribes-a-like game than almost any other.

Problem #1: Physics are stiff and counter-intuitive, and level layout makes it difficult to glide around Tribes-style. You have to "GIT GUD" before you manage to do so, which is why this game is turning off new players, and is basically dying. Tribes:Ascend wasn't easy to grasp, but gliding around the hills was easy to get a hang of, as the level design was generous and straightforward in that regard even in its worst maps.

Problem #2: This problem is shared with Tribes: Ascend. Unreal engine is strained by the networking requirements of FPS-Z shooters. Both MidAir and Tribes: Ascend inaccurately draw object positions when your ping is above 30. Yes, you can "GIT GUD" and adapt to this problem, but it is a symptom of bad netcode in Unreal Engine. Older games like Quake Wars didn't have this problem. In fact, even older Unreal games (UT2003, UT2004) had seemingly better netcode, or maybe they just worked better due to two-dimensional movement.

Problem #3: As part of awful level design, bases have a weird, disconnected layout. The importance of deployables and generator is downplayed. Tribes: Ascend had superficial base design compared to original Tribes 1/2 already. Original Tribes games had its own "indoor game" on some levels, where you could spend the entire game just being an engineer who maintains the base, and it would be both important and fun. That angle is lost here. Nobody's ever inside the base.

Problem #4: The game shipped without a voice announcer! No "Your team's flag was taken" here! The UI is cumbersome. The ammo counters for weapons are not prominent.

Problem #5: Developers are slow and largely oblivious to feedback.

Midair is a crazy fun successor to the Tribes series.

Players used to Tribes: Ascend are initially finding the jetting/skiing to be slow and difficult to control. However, it just takes a bit to get used to how the movement works in Midair as it is a little different than T:A. The main difference is that if you hold a direction with WASD then it takes away from your upwards velocity. So a lot of the time you will not be wanting to hold W while you are jetting. Additionally, if you want to change direction with A and D you have to be using your jets. Once you know these things and get used to it you will find you have a lot of control and the skiing/jetting in Midair is fantastic.

Another review is criticizing the F2P model of Midair. It's really you either pay $25 for the full game with all unlocks (besides cosmetics) or you unlock things with F2P. I don't remember the specifics of T:A's F2P model but I remember it was far worse than this on release.

The maps look ugly. The character models look terrible. The HUD is bad. The UI is ugly and difficult to navigate. Midair still feels like an Early Access game - needs a lot of "polish". Also, no matchmaking yet (needs a larger playerbase), but players do organize PUGs on discord.

Despite those issues the core gameplay is great. If you like Tribes you will love this game (just get used to the movement!).

yo this game is where it's at

this is different from your every day, run of the mill shooter with hitscan weapons

this game utilizes an open world, and the z axis

you will not get gameplay like this from any other shooter

it's a high speed, skill based game

free to play, easy to unlock gear if you don't want to pay, what do you have to lose?

If you like Tribes or skill-based shooters, this is the game for you. This game fixes pretty much all the gripes I had with Tribes: Ascend. There are new vehicles and more features on the way, and it will be exciting to see how it evolves.

There are a few rough edges, and the jetpacking system is slightly different than you may be used to, so it will take some time to adjust to this.

Overall, highly recommended. Easy to learn, hard to master. If you're up for a challenge, and want to play something interesting, pick it up. It's free. Though if you like it, I recmmend getting the 'Manaborn Game Pass' so you don't have to deal with unlocking all the items through the in-game skill tree.

Although the game is a solid idea it's just an unfinished product, and as such not worth your time or money.

- The maps look soulless and empty. There's nothing wrong with the graphical style, but they're completely devoid of trees, shrubbery, buildings, all the countless, small things that make a world feel alive.
- The UI, especially the menu, looks like a standard asset flip.
- No useful tooltips to learn new players how things work.
- Crashes and other fatal flaws. I tried joining a full server and the game crashed. No, there's no queue system.

A very worthy sucessor to Tribes, I hope it does well. I backed the early access and kickstarter, and low player count has always been an issue, but with the upcoming release and as it will be free to play, I think that issue will soon fade. :)

Otherwise, the game is awesome, really gives the Tribes vibe, while making being its own thing.

Just like Starsiege: Tribes of old, but with a skiing button. It's got all the classic weapons & vehicles. redone in more modern graphics.

But the part you want to hear about is the speed. When you get a good slide down the mountain and boost up the next you'll go gloriously skyward.

The skiing controls are a tad more difficult than the forgiving Tribes: Ascend. Which many people are being unreasonably harsh about (the trick is to not hold W all day long, and jet while moving left or right mid-ski). But if you've got that itch only a high velocity game can scratch, then download Midair. And with it being a free to play title, what have you got to lose?

Very good but noones arround to play with. Servers are 0/11 palyers or something.
Maybe played at the wron time but in the time ive only seen like 20 people.

This is the game I wanted for a while, unfortunately I was late to hearing about it and after I bought the game (for $30ish) I realized the community consists of a single 5v5 match that is locked.

Game is already dead, sad to say I will likely never get my Tribes fix.

Thoughtfully, perhaps lovingly developed Tribes-like.. Or "fast-paced jetpack shooter," which is legally distinct from any other games with jetpacks.

I would absolutely recommend trying the Early Access if you like first person shooters, appreciate team play, and maybe you need more speed, excitement, competition or CHALLENGE than other shooters can offer. This is like the Dark Souls of multiplayer FPS'. As a new player, you will die. A lot. But, eventually. you will become a nigh-unstoppable murder factory, Or something.

What is available in Early Access at the time of writing is a fully playable game, but one that is not in any appreciably finalized state; gameplay elements are subject to slight tweaks, there is some placeholder art, for example, and some maps in very early stages of life. The UI is practically spartan, but the options you need are all present and easily accessible. There may be bugs, it's early access after all. Devs have done a great job of not introducing gamebreaking ones.

I have not had the game crash on me once, yet, since getting into the EA, and performance has been surprisingly smooth - suspiciously smooth, even. However, I don't run at a particularly huge resolution & refresh rate. Only 1920x1080@60Hz , all settings Ultra except for AA on "High".; VSYNC ON. My rig is quite old in the tooth; GTX 980, 16GB of DDR3, i7 3770k w/ all SSD storage, however I haven't loaded a map yet that's presented any noticeable dip in framerate . This is infinitely better performance than one might expect from the majority of other "Early Access" titles.

While on the subject of performance, the netcode has been adequate - no complaints yet. Prediction and hit registration have been ON FREAKING POINT! Which is absolutely crucial given that all the weapons fire projectiles.

But is anyone else playing this?! Well, I am, for starters, but I'm pretty bad. Thankfully, there are plenty of (better) players to find a game with during as well. I haven't failed to find a populated server during peak NA times yet! I can't really speak to the other regions - not there, after all - so I wont.

Lots of praise here... Obviously, I'm coming from a Tribes background and I'm part of the game's target audience for sure. That also puts me in a pretty good position to point out some of its shortcomings, so here goes:

CONS

This game has a stratospheric skill ceiling and nearly vertical learning curve. To some intrepid Gamers this may not be a con at all, but let's be real: starting out in a new game and getting your butt handed to you by seasoned vets is not an inherently "fun" experience.

There isn't any kind of matchmaking. You will be playing with others at all sorts of different skill levels, from noobs to people who you may be inclined to accuse of cheating (they're not, mind you). Returning veterans, and those who have been playing this sort of game continuously for the what is fast approaching *TWENTY* years, can present an unforgiving challenge to newcomers.

Tutorials are just enough to get you off the ground - literally. There is no substitute for practice, lots and lots of practice. It would be encouraging to see some more robust offline training/tutorial options, or some new player-support mechanics in online play. Mentor system maybe. Just throwing it out there.


Rambling complete... Hope anyone finds this helpful, and I certainly hope to see you in-game either way!

If you were a fan of Tribes 1 and 2 then you'll love this. The jetpack mechanics still need a little work and the gunfire reload feels a little slow but other than that fun game for being in closed beta. We do need some type of health pack or regen added but I'm sure thats probably on the way. Part of the fun capping back in the T1 and T2 days was disc launching yourself to get instant speed and then heal up before you get to the flag. The loadout screen is kinda a hot mess also but self explanitory. Guys look at T2 and follow that model. Keep it simple but sexy. Game runs pretty smoothly considering my video card shouldn't be able to run it by the minimum specs.

My PC specs-
i7 2600 CPU @ 3.4GHZ
8GB Ram
AMD 6700 GPU

Although I do not recommend Midair in Early Access at this time (early Sept '17) I hope this can be seen as a constructive commentary on the game thus far. There are some strong positives and some concerning but fixable negatives. For the time being I have got a refund on the Early Access, but I'll be checking back to see if things have improved.

It's clear a lot of work has gone into Midair, formerly Project Z, and that there is also a lot left to do. At this stage it feels like a proof of concept of a Tribeslike game. It certainly has issues but there is also a lot to like.

Having played Starsiege Tribes, Tribes 2, Tribes Vengeance, Tribes Ascend (and Legions) I know that what is and what isn't Tribes has always been divisive and there opinions aplenty. I managed to enjoy all those games even if T1 & T2 still feel superior, Ascend's Weapon unlocks were the obvious low point of the saga.

The problems I see with Midair right now are not ones that cannot be solved. Heres a list of the issues as I see them.

- Movement does not feel right. Skiing and jetpacks are present but feel off. Perhaps because the Jump isn't integrated into Jetting perhaps? A separate unjetted jump should exist, but I think had jump also scripted into jet in T1 & T2 (almost 20 years, my memory is hazy). Lateral movement in the air feels slightly superior though, so that's a small plus. Ground movement when not jetting or skiing feels a little slow. As such the player controls felt a little awkward.

- The UI is firmly in placeholder territory. It's just nasty. I do not believe the current elements can be tuned to improve them. For example, modding your loadouts does not need to fill the screen. Instead players should have an onscreen display that allows them to keep situational awareness of the game world.

- The HUD isn't great either, but is more functional than the rest of the UI.

- Player avatars profoundly disappointing. I was pleasantly surprised by the art style of the game buildings and vehicles, which I liked even though I wasn't sure at first, but I really do not like the player models. This may be a question of taste. It's possible to match the colourful style without making the players look a doofus generic cartoon character. Helmets at a bare minimum would improve matters, as would the traditional 5: Light female, Light Male, Medium Female, Medium Male and Generic Heavy (which both genders use).

- Armour weights tied to a gender and race is jarring. I think this might also be a problem tied into the current player avatar design. I honestly don't care what gender or race I play as, but swapping between Light, Medium and Heavy armours I would like to have the same voice and gender. And yeah, I know all cappers will be female Lights because size. 1998: pick your voice, gender & appearance, 2017: get what you're given.

-- Biggest negative, however, is the intended business model. Free to play with Weapon unlocks. Just leave that ranking up nonsense to Callofdudebro and its numerous dreadful clones. Have everything unlocked and limit free players to the number of games they can play in an hour and day. Weapon unlocks have no place is a Tribeslike game.

Well that's a lot of grumbling. So what did I like about the game...

++ Despite my issues with the avatars, I like the look of the game world a lot. It's a simplistic art style that works well. With the speed necessary for a Tribeslike game, being able to resolve opponents and teammates in a fraction of a second is key. I think this is the Midair team's best decision (aside from making a Tribeslike game, of course!).

+ Similarly the vehicles and base assets are also great. You should have no difficulty recognising what vehicle you're up against, even at long distance.

++ From what I saw, most (probably all) of the weapons I remember are present. What I tested felt like they needed tuning. Not a huge issue and one that will evolve over time. Mostly damage values, area of effect sizes, rate of fire... all that sort of thing.

+ So too are at least some of the equipment modifiers.

+ The map design, while occasionally and unapologetically designed around skiing, looked pretty good. I will be interested to see how the Midair team reinterpret some of the classic maps but also what new designs they come up with.

++ It's the most Tribeslike game I've seen since T1 & T2.

So in the end. Is it Tribes? No, not yet but it's so very, very close. I do want it to suceed, but I reserve recommending it unless you personally have the time to dedicate testing an unfinished but promising game.

where are all the players, there are like 6 peple playing ever time i log on. i love T2 and this could be epic but with no player base its dead feeling.. and I feel like there are bugs in the wepon firing and accuracy

This is awesome loved Tribes so much and now I love Midair too!! Although I do think the maps have a little too many small bumps which I know makes the maps harder, but I really think that it's too much, at least if they want a big crowd to play their game..

(Maps are much harder to ski in than in T:A and generel movement is harder, don't know which I prefer yet need more time)

The game feels a lot like T1 and T2 base, the real question is will the community be able to mod. The cartoonly feel is a little over the top but not bad, and it still needs some polish but it will come around.

Wouldn't recommend right now. The gameplay is just okay. Skiing is slow and combat is worse than T:A. I'd hold off until they polish this more. Not sure how you mess up on tribes harder than hirez. Can have some fun moments but a lot of core issues. Worth at 9.99, not 29.99. Feels and plays like a proof of concept.

If you liked tribes but hirez pissed you off with their decisions, I can't recommend this to replace it. Rather disappointing but its still early access so maybe they'll improve it a lot.